No. 3 Virginia hosts Liberty in midweek matchup

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

No. 3 Virginia (25-3) will conclude its five-game homestand on Wednesday (April 6) with a midweek contest against Liberty (17-9) at Disharoon Park. The game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. first pitch and will be nationally televised on ACC Network.

GAME COVERAGE: For information and providers that carry ACC Network visit GetACCN.com. Authenticated subscribers of ACC Network can also watch the game through the ESPN app and ESPN.com. Links to live stats are available on VirginiaSports.com. Fans can get in-game updates on the team’s official twitter page (@UVABaseball).

PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS

Tuesday – 7 p.m.

Liberty: RHP Trey Gibson (3-2, 4.38 ERA, 24.2 IP, 11 BB, 33 SO)

Virginia: RHP Devin Ortiz (4-1, 2.05 ERA, 22.0 IP, 2 BB, 32 SO)

LEADING OFF

• Separated by just 68 miles, Wednesday will the lone meeting this season between Virginia and Liberty.
• The Cavaliers have outscored midweek opponents this season 85-14.
• Virginia enters the midweek as the country’s No. 1 scoring offense (11.1 runs per game). The Cavaliers also tops in the country in runs (311), batting average (.335) and on-base percentage (.443).
• Virginia is 4-0 this season against teams from the Commonwealth.
• The Cavaliers are ranked inside the top-3 in the country in all six major collegiate polls and garnered a No. 3 ranking from D1Baseball this week, matching its highest regular season ranking since week five of the 2015 season. The Cavaliers have been inside the top-5 of the Baseball America poll in all but one week this season.
• As of Tuesday, Virginia ranks in the top-10 in the country in batting average (1^st– .344), earned run average (4^th– 2.87) and fielding percentage (8^th – .983). No other team in the country ranks in the top-15 of each of the three categories.

HOME COOKING

• Virginia comes into Wednesday having won 21 of its last 22 games at home, including a school-record streak of 19-straight that ended on Friday night against Georgia Tech.
• UVA is 18-1 at Disharoon Park in 2021, the 18 home wins are tied for the third most in the country this season – Davidson (20), Tennessee (19), North Carolina (18), Mercer (18) & Virginia (18).
• Saturday’s win against Georgia Tech was No. 525 at Disharoon Park, a facility that opened in 2002. The Cavaliers have won 77 percent (526-161) of its games over the course of 21 seasons at The Dish.
• UVA is outscoring its opponents 254-71 at home this season.
• The sixth-inning home run by Jake Gelof on Sunday against Georgia Tech was the 39^thhit by the Cavaliers at Disharoon Park this season, a facility record. The previous mark of 38 was set in 2017 over the course of 38 games. UVA has 16 home games left on the schedule.
• Virginia has scored 10 or more runs in 16 of its 19 games at home this season.

AGAINST LIBERTY

• Virginia owns a 40-22-1 all-time record against the Flames in a series that first played in 1976, a 16-6 victory in Charlottesville.
• Under Brian O’Connor, the Cavaliers have won 16 of 19 meetings including 10 of 11 at Disharoon Park in his tenure.
• The two teams split the last two home and home midweek series (2019 & 2021) with each team winning games at their respective ballparks.
• Then-freshman Kyle Teel hit a go-ahead home run in the bottom of the eighth inning in last year’s 6-5 win over Liberty at Disharoon Park. UVA erased a 5-0 deficit and handed Liberty its first loss in 70 games when leading after the sixth innings.

ON THE MOUND

• On Wednesday, two-way player Devin Ortiz is scheduled to make his fifth start of the season. Prior to 2022 his only other start in his career was in the 2021 NCAA Regional Final against ODU which he pitched four shutout innings and struck out sixth. He stayed in the lineup for the remainder of the game and hit a walk-off homer in the bottom of the 10th inning.
• The righthander started the year without allowing a run in his first 12.2 innings pitched and had his streak of 38-straight innings without allowing a run that dated back to the 2019 season snapped in a relief appearance against Duke.
• The Cavalier bullpen has been in one save situation this season, opening day against Bellarmine played in Boiling Springs, N.C. Matt Wyatt was credited with the save. Sophomore Avery Mabe pitched the final 3.1 innings against Rider on March 15 to earn UVA’s only other save on the season. Righthander Will Geerdes has finished nine of Virginia’s 25 wins without recording save.
• In addition to the fourth-lowest ERA in the country, UVA has allowed 6.63 hits per game, the fifth fewest of any NCAA team.
• The Cavaliers are one of four teams with an NCAA-best six shutouts this season – Vanderbilt, UCF, Tennessee.
• Virginia has struck out 319 batters in 251 innings pitched tied with Vanderbilt for the fourth most in the country. The Cavaliers set a program record with 687 last year.
• UVA pitchers have struck out 10 or more batters in 20 of 28 games this season including 23 against Cornell on Feb. 25, the most in a nine-inning game by anyone in the NCAA this season.

AMONG THE NATION’S BEST

• Virginia is a consensus top-5 team for the second-straight week. The Cavaliers have climbed 16 spots in the D1Baseball poll since entering the top 25 at No. 19 on March 14.
• The Cavaliers own a .893 winning percentage in 2022, second only to 27-1 Tennessee (.964). The Cavaliers and Volunteers, who met in last year’s College World Series (6-0 UVA victory), are the only two teams in the country with three or less losses.
• The Cavaliers have racked up 25 wins in 28 games, the second most wins of any team in the country.
• Sophomore Jake Gelof is the country’s leader in home runs (14), RBI (51), RBI per game (1.82), slugging percentage (1.010) and total bases (99). He leads the Cavaliers and ranks eighth nationally with a .439 batting average (43-for-98).
• Right behind Gelof in the national RBI race is teammate Alex Tappen who has driven in 43 runs, the fifth most in the country. The graduate student has already eclipsed career-highs in highs in RBI and home runs (8).

GOLDEN HOUR

• On Tuesday, Jake Gelof and Nate Savino were two of 45 players included on the Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List, an award annually presented to the top amateur baseball player by USA Baseball.
• Virginia was one of eight programs nationally with multiple players on the midseason watch list.
• All-time, UVA has produced 12 midseason watch list selections, the sixth most of any school in the country. The Cavaliers have been represented six times since 2013, tied for the ninth most in college baseball.

CAVALIER TIDBITS

• Alex Tappen has reached base in 27-straight games. The streak is the longest in a single season by a Cavaliers since Zack Gelof reached base in the first 28 games of his career back in 2018. Kyle Teel had a reached base streak of 36 games that spanned over the course of two seasons (2021 and 2022).
• Tappen lead all active UVA players with 21 career homers, he’s the first UVA hitter to reach the 20-career homer plateau since Pavin Smith (28) and Adam Haseley (21) in 2017.
• Catcher Kyle Teel has reached base in all but one game this season and has started every contest for the Cavaliers behind the plate. He has hit three grand slams this season and four in his career.
• The one-two punch of Chris Newell and Griff O’Ferrall on the basepaths have helped UVA rank second in the ACC in stolen bases with 41. Newell’s 12 swiped bags are the fourth most in the ACC and O’Ferrall is right behind him with 11, tied for the fifth most in the league.
• O’Ferrall has led off and played shortstop in all 28 games this season. In four games last week he hit .578 (9-for-17) with two doubles, a triple, five runs scored and eight RBI. In Saturday’s game against Georgia Tech, he gave UVA its first lead of the series with a bases clearing, three-run double. On Sunday erased a three-run deficit with one swing, recording his first triple of the season. All eight of his RBI came in the last two games against the Yellow Jackets.
• Junior Max Cotier recorded a career-high five RBI in the finale against Georgia Tech, three came over the course of two at bats in a 10-run UVA fourth inning.